The Hallmark Channel has changed its mind and will allow an ad that shows a two-woman wedding, after pulling it under pressure from anti-LGBTQ group One Million Moms—and then realizing that the power of the LGBTQ community was even greater.
The ad was for wedding registry site Zola, and showed two women at their wedding, being advised by friends about the benefits of using Zola. The women briefly kiss at one point. Four of the six ads Zola created for this campaign included the same-sex couple; one (below) focused exclusively on the couple, and three others also showed different-sex couples.
After One Million Moms posted a petition on its website urging the network not to air the ads, Hallmark pulled all of those with the same-sex couple. One Million Moms (whose membership is much less than a million) is a division of the conservative American Family Association, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Hallmark excused its pandering to a hate group by telling Zola, “We are not allowed to accept creatives that are deemed controversial,” reported the New York Times. A Hallmark spokesperson also said it was the couple’s kiss that was the concern, as the network did not air “overt public displays of affection.” The New York Times notes, however, that “In one of the two ads that were permitted to continue to air, a bride and groom kiss passionately at the altar.” (Here’s one of the other ads, with the different-sex kiss at about 22 seconds.)
Zola, to its credit, then pulled all of its ads and told the NYT, “All kisses, couples and marriages are equal celebrations of love and we will no longer be advertising on Hallmark.”
The LGBTQ community and its allies (including, I’m happy to say, many Mombian readers) responded with a resounding social media call to #BoycottHallmark. Among those supporting the boycott was singer Chely Wright, who co-wrote the finale song for a Hallmark Christmas movie this year. Wright is raising twins with her wife. She tweeted Saturday:
Competitor Netflix tweeted pointedly about “titles featuring lesbians joyfully existing.”
And Freeform, the Disney-owned network that is tonight (tonight!) showing a special holiday episode of Good Trouble featuring the two-mom couple of its originating show, The Fosters, tweeted: “This is what happens when you focus all your energy on exclusion instead of clever plotlines. Call us, @Zola. We celebrate the holidays with everyone.”
LGBTQ advocacy organizations joined the fray. HRC had helped the campaign with an online petition, garnering nearly 70,000 signatures. It suspended Hallmark’s previously perfect position on its Corporate Equality Index.
GLAAD also ran an online petition, spoke out in the press, including on NBC Nightly News, and explained to the media that One Million Moms has a continued agenda of anti-LGBTQ hate. They also had conversations with The Hallmark Channel directly.
On Sunday, the message got through. Mike Perry, President and CEO, Hallmark Cards, Inc., issued a statement saying:
The Crown Media team has been agonizing over this decision as we’ve seen the hurt it has unintentionally caused. Said simply, they believe this was the wrong decision. Our mission is rooted in helping all people connect, celebrate traditions, and be inspired to capture meaningful moments in their lives. Anything that detracts from this purpose is not who we are. We are truly sorry for the hurt and disappointment this has caused.
The statement continued:
Hallmark is, and always has been, committed to diversity and inclusion—both in our workplace as well as the products and experiences we create. It is never Hallmark’s intention to be divisive or generate controversy. We are an inclusive company and have a track record to prove it. We have LGBTQ greeting cards and feature LGBTQ couples in commercials. We have been recognized as one of the Human Rights Campaigns Best Places to Work, and as one of Forbes America’s Best Employers for Diversity. We have been a progressive pioneer on television for decades—telling wide ranging stories that elevate the human spirit such as August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson and Colm Tóibín’s The Blackwater Lightship, both of which highlight the importance of tolerance and understanding.
Hallmark will be working with GLAAD to better represent the LGBTQ community across our portfolio of brands. The Hallmark Channel will be reaching out to Zola to reestablish our partnership and reinstate the commercials.
Among the ways Hallmark has already been representing the LGBTQ community across its brands is by offering greeting cards for queer people. Some of their baby memory books, too, offer “optional non-traditional parent pages“—and while that may feel like an awkward phrasing (the “traditional” family structure has for long been a minority; I personally don’t like the appellation “non-traditional”), they’re clearly trying to be inclusive.
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis (also a lesbian mom), said in a statement: “The Hallmark Channel’s decision to correct its mistake sends an important message to LGBTQ people and represents a major loss for fringe organizations, like One Million Moms, whose sole purpose is to hurt families like mine. LGBTQ people are, and will continue to be, a part of advertisements and family programming and that will never change.”
While I would have preferred that this whole situation never happened, might it be that it will in fact spur Hallmark towards greater and faster progress? Could we actually see a Hallmark holiday special featuring LGBTQ parents and their kids? Or parents of LGBTQ kids? Might the company expand its LGBTQ greeting card offerings to include congratulatory ones for gender transitions? Ones that speak to nonbinary identities? Tweet them your wish list; this feels like a good time to make suggestions.
Also, take this moment to revel in our power to make change, even at a time when the country’s politics are not in our favor. It may sound like a holiday television ending, but love does win.